Take Five: Church Minshull

It was bright, sunny morning as we set off along the short 'new' section of the canal. When we looked at aerial photos of the area we were still puzzled by where the original line was. We could see the line of the footpath marked on the OS map but there also seemed to be another possible indication of a canal. The photos were taken some while back as they had much less vegetation at the side of the canal. Perhaps sometime we will have the chance to explore the matter in some more detail!

Lion Salt Works - undergoing restoration

hortly after the next bridge we passed the old Lion Salt Works. This former brine plant, which closed in 1986, had been intended to be turned into a museum, preserving a bit of the local industrial history - the part of the country r4emains famous for its salt mining. However, it has taken some time to get off the ground but an £8 million project is now underway and it is hoped that the site will open in 2014.

Approaching Tata Chemical Works

Passing Tata

At Northwich a large chemical works straddles the canal. It was originally owned by Brunner Mond and designed to manufacture soda ash. It is now owned by Tata, the huge multinational industrial corporation. The works gradually came into sight - our first picture was taken some while before we reached the site itself.

We have already talked about the problems of unchecked vegetation on this canal. We had a couple of occasions today when emergency stops or strong evasive action had to be taken as a result. This photo gives the view of a boat coming the other way and hides a bridge immediately behind the trees on a curve in the canal. The oncoming boat only just saw us in the bridgehole at the last moment.

Billinge Green Flash

The canal passes by several flashes where subsidence has created areas of water that stretch beyond the original banks. This one is popular to photograph because of the stark remains of a sunken boat where the bank should have been.

Here again a section where reeds reduce the width for a long stretch, at times barely enough for one boat to pass through. This is an area where there are numerous hire boats not far from their starting point, often with crews that are still getting to grips with how to handle a boat.

Someone likes the former bank fencing posts!

Croxton Aqueduct

Closing in on Middlewich we passed over the short Croxton Aqueduct.

Middlewich Big Lock

Middlewich Big Lock is aptly named and is the only broad lock on this part of the canal - Dutton stop lock is a strange size, neither broad nor narrow!

Below Lock 74

After stopping for water, where Christine popped to nearby shops in the town centre for a paper and a few other items, we arrived at the first narrow lock. After spending such a long time with broad locks, these seemed rather strange, almost quaint! However, they are generally much easier to operate.

Bridge 168

We turned right at the junction heading for the Middlewich Branch which connects the Trent and Mersey Canal to the Shropshire Union (Shroppie). But first we had to pass along the shortest canal on the system - as the plaque on the bridge over the entrance states. Fulfilling much the same role as a stop lock, it is all of 47m in length stretching from the junction itself to the bottom of Wardle Lock.

Wardle Lock Cottage

The Lock Cottage was for a long time home to Maureen Shaw, famous for her attentiveness to boaters passing through. Sadly she became ill last year and had to move out of the cottage. The cottage was sold at auction by BW last February. It still looks as if it awaits plans for renovation. Sadly, Maureen - born into a boating family and spent much of her life working on canal boats - died a few weeks after the cottage was sold.

Canal Stables

The Middlewich Branch, only some 9 miles in length, is a pleasant canal, built quite wide although the bridges were only made for narrow boats and so cause a sudden slowing down as you pass through them. (OK, if you want to know why, you will just have to ask us!) At one time, fly boats operated a service to many large cities. They needed regular changes of horses and so stables were built at appropriate distances. Fly boats could reach up to 7 mph, almost twice the speed of normal narrowboats. The last fly boat to be built carried cheese from Shropshire and Cheshire to Manchester and the Midlands. They would operate non-stop, travelling through the night.